


So I Just, Baby

by jaemibbeom



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Football | Soccer, Humor, Romance, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17907713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaemibbeom/pseuds/jaemibbeom
Summary: You know that stereotype about jocks: that they are all dumb, egotistical, aggressive and short-tempered? (Jae says he's not dumb tho, just not into intellectual pursuits)It's only the first month of the new school year and Jae, center forward and the ace of the school's football team, is already failing his subjects miserably.For Aeri, the number 1 outstanding student of their school, life is a competition and she must always win. So when their adviser proposed a deal of giving her full remarks in recitations and exemption in their final exam, she couldn't decline, especially when she heard about the offer being passed to her closest competition: Brian Kang, number 2 outstanding student in their batch. She was left with no other choice but to be Jae's study buddy, because at this point, if he continues to fail, he won't get into any university.





	So I Just, Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know why I'm writing this lmao. Just wanted to write fluff for a change.  
> ( and have you ever imagined Jae in a football uniform coz I HAVE AND IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY )  
> (( hence, THIS ))
> 
> no, really, the song I Just only got stuck in my head and I itched to write this.
> 
> twitter: @jaemibbeom  
> curiouscat: https://curiouscat.me/jamlovesjae

It’s a hot, Tuesday morning, and I’m running late.

Sweat trickled on my forehead and I huffed before getting inside the bus that I pray will take me to school in 10 minutes instead of the usual 25 minutes.

I’m always early—except for today—because being early is the standard practice of successful people. Plus, the mere idea of being tardy stresses me out so I always see to it that I am always on time.

Well, today might be the day I’m breaking my norms. All thanks to the broken railroad or something, or maybe the train itself is not working, I’m not really sure. My mom just told me I had to ride a bus today instead of the train. But the thing is, she texted me about it when I was already on my way to the train station so I had to take a detour at the last minute.

Taking the train means I have to wait only for 20 minutes (including the 5-minute walk from home to the station and another 5-minute walk from the station to school), but the bus stop is already 15 minutes away from our house, so if you add the 25-minute ride, it’s equal to me arriving late.

I glanced at my wristwatch and sighed in relief when I saw that I was actually still 30 minutes early. Unless my watch chose to break today too just like the railroad, which I pray isn’t the case.

Pulling out my reviewers that I made last night from my bag, I realized I forgot to clip them and I now have to be extra careful with how I flip the pages so they won’t fall. I was too engrossed with reading my notes that I didn’t notice the bus stopping at the next stop, until I heard boisterous laughter which I don’t really need right now, _especially now_ , that I’m reviewing for my Physics quiz this afternoon.

“Yo, remember that guy from class C who attended the try-outs? I think he can actually kick balls good?”

The noise continued to roar inside the once silent bus and I had to crane my neck to see who were disturbing me in my supposed review.

Well, crap.

It’s the football team.

And being on the same ride as them only means one thing: I am really running late.

My head pounded in frustration as they walked towards their seats one by one. It’s not that I hate jocks, but I hate how loud they are whenever they’re around you. They’re always all over the place and they rob you of peace of mind. Plus, they don’t really care about academic stuff—the exact thing I give importance to the most.

Or maybe I just solely hate the football team and the loudmouths that happen to be their players.

I shifted on my seat as one player sat beside me.

The only player I know, actually.

Park Sungjin, the captain of the football team.

Okay, maybe I don’t really hate the football players. Or maybe I do, except Captain Sungjin.

“Good morning,” he greeted with a small smile before looking at the papers I was holding.

“Good morning.” I turned my attention back to my reviewers.

In my defense, I don’t like him romantically. I just like the fact that he’s one of the top 10 students in our batch—which only means he’s not one of those dumb jocks that are all talk and no brains. I’m not saying that all jocks are like that, but you know that stereotype about jocks: that they are all dumb, egotistical, aggressive and short-tempered?

Sungjin crossed out all of that.

Since freshmen until now that we’re already seniors, he has been a constant honor student, the president of our class, and a member of the football team—and all of these achievements don’t even compete with his good personality. He’s like a solid 10 out of 10, if you’d ask me, for whatever scale you’re thinking of.

I don’t like him, really. He just deserves all these praises from me because his existence doesn’t annoy me. If anything, his presence alone gives off comfort and security and stability—things that his team members lack.

The boys started to take their seats, and I watched as one stuck out like a sore thumb.

There came this walking flagpole, with his ice blue hair and his usual goofy grin that I don’t really understand why he always wears.

Anyway, back to my reviewer.

I remember making 14 pages of these, but I’m holding only 13, much to my chagrin.

  1. I’m late.
  2. I lost one page of my reviewer.



I wonder what would take the third count of bad luck today.

The ride was silent, if I would ignore the banters of the boys at the back. It was silent—the ride, between Sungjin and me.

The bus finally stopped and my initial plan was to sprint my way to school so I wouldn’t be seen with this noisy bunch but as soon as Sungjin made way for me to walk (I was sitting by the window and he was by the aisle), the walking flagpole earlier just had to prance his way out of the bus, bumping me in the process, causing my precious reviewers that I forgot to clip to fall.

He didn’t even bother apologizing and just _“yeet”_ -ed in his exit.

Bad luck number 3: A horse disguised as a flagpole pranced its way out of the bus, bumping me.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, pressured by the looks the other members of the team were giving me as they stood at the back, waiting for me to pick up my papers so they could finally pass by.

I could use some help, hello? But okay, what do I even expect from these jocks. Without an instruction, they won’t move. Zero initiative found.

I was startled when Sungjin suddenly crouched down and began picking my papers up.

“Let me do that for you,” he offered as he took the papers from my hand and proceeded with picking up the remaining pages on the floor.

My gaze automatically landed on his voluminous black hair, bangs dramatically obscuring his eyes—eyes that eventually showed their sparkling beauty as he looked up at me with an arched brow—my eyes still on his fluffy hair.

He beamed me another small smile before handing me my reviewer.

I muttered a soft _“thanks”_ before scurrying my way out and sprinting towards the school premises, heart pounding loudly in fear of being tardy.

The first period has already started when I arrived, and our teacher shamelessly threw me a weird look, probably wondering why for the first time in forever, I was late.

Or why I arrived at the same time as the guy with ice blue hair… which was confusing, since he was literally the first one who got off the bus, leaving all of us behind.

Anyway, I’ve been taking a lot of things into details this day and it has only started—which I don’t normally do. I usually don’t care about anything, or anyone, if it doesn’t call the need for me to put in crucial efforts, which I actually only do when it’s something about my studies.

Ever since I stepped foot on this school, and even during my younger years, I have been an over-achiever. I always make sure that things are perfect, and I excel in whatever I undertake. There’s no room for failure in my life. Who needs that, anyway? I believe that it’s not only in failures that you learn, you actually learn more when you surround yourself with people who excel, just like you. People who have no plans in failing.

After all, life is a competition. And I must always win.

That is probably why Sungjin is one of the few people who do not annoy me, because he’s the same as I am. Sure, he’s not on the same wavelength as the competitive person that I am, but the fact that he’s taking his studies seriously equates to him being off the hook.

As long as he doesn’t try to steal my top 1 spot, then we’re good.

 

-

 

Losing a page of my reviewer didn’t really give me much of a hassle, I still aced our exam in Physics, our last subject this day, scoring a perfect 100 out of 100. It’s all good, until our teacher announced that my seatmate also got a perfect score, which means a new opponent has appeared.

Of course, he has always been a close competition, but we were never classmates, only this school year.

He flashed me a grin, his fox-like eyes annoyingly smiling at me (or mocking me), intensifying my urge to throw my book at him. “You did well.”

Well, duh? When did I not do well?

I just nodded at him, trying to conceal my irritation by fixating my gaze on the test paper that reads:

_Yang Aeri_

_100/100_

He chuckled lowly and I just took a deep breath to placate myself. Bad luck number 4, I guess. It doesn’t happen normally, but today might just be the day I’m actually losing my cool.

Brian Kang, the football team’s center forward, also the number 2 outstanding student in our school.

I don’t know a lot of people, but he is one of the few that I do. Because just like what they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

But we’re not close. And I don’t have any plans on getting chummy with him. With _close_ , I meant, I need to eye him every now and then and check if he’s closing the academic gap between us too quick. I have to guard my spot, after all, I always have to win.

I didn’t see him this morning with his team, and sometimes it’s just really like that. Just like Sungjin, he also breaks the stereotype about jocks. Because as much as I hate to admit, he’s intelligent. Like, really intelligent. So, like Sungjin again, he doesn’t annoy me.

Just today, because he scored a perfect score like I did, but it’s not everyday that he does that so it’s fine. I don’t hate him.

“Park Jaehyung!”

Mr. Kwon’s voice thundered across the classroom, startling every single specimen in the small space.

“Yes, sir!” another voice shot back from my back.

The first month of the school year is almost ending, and I think this is the first time I’m actually hearing his full name. I just hear his friends call him _Jae_ , so I believed it was his name, but now I am perfectly aware that his name is actually Park Jaehyung, and he’s not some Jae guy with no surname. Our teachers don’t do roll-calls anymore and just let our class president (Sungjin) check who’s absent. It’s also the first and last time I’m classmates with him, so I’m really not familiar with who he is.

Or maybe I just never really cared. Because he never posed as a threat to me.

Jae looked like he just woke up—blue hair dishevelled, eyeglasses falling from the bridge of his nose to its tip.

“It’s only the first month of the school year, and it’s already your sixth failed exam,” I sat up straight and looked back at Mr. Kwon who was fuming in anger while holding a test paper on his hand.

Jae just shrugged and scratched his head nonchalantly, before grinning at Mr. Kwon, infuriating our Physics teacher even more.

Mr. Kwon announced an early dismissal, cueing our adviser Mr. Park, or Sir JYP as other students call him, to enter.

“Park Jaehyung.”

Another enraged mention of the walking flagpole reverberated in the whole room. His stern face says he’s not in the mood for jokes right now, and so am I because I have to go home already and review for my upcoming exams, and maybe answer some of my brother’s homework too if he asks for my help.

Brian nudged me with his elbow and I turned to him, completely ignoring the presence of Mr. Park.

I raised a brow, not uttering a single word. He’s smart. He knows what I meant.

“Has anyone told you how stiff you are?” there went his annoying grin again.

“Has anyone told you how annoying you are?”

Brian shrugged, before pointing the front of the room with his lips.

Following the direction he pointed, I saw Mr. Park looking straight at me. I shifted on my seat and started fixing the notes that were situated on top of my chair’s arm rest. But before I could even put them to my bag, Mr. Park spoke again.

“Yang Aeri, please meet me at the teachers’ office. You may all go now.”

I looked back at Brian questioningly, and the idiot just shrugged, the annoying smile still plastered across his face.

I could only sigh. I didn’t even hear what he said for the last 5 minutes. For what reason is our adviser asking me to go to the teacher’s office?

As soon as I got all my stuff, I heard giggles around me and I saw two of my friends, probably my only friends in this school.

Nayeon and Sana, the only brave souls who dared to befriend me.

See, students are intimidated by me, primarily because I am the top student in our batch, and in our school most probably. It’s fine, actually. Less friends, less people who interfere with my life. It’s not as lonely as some think it is, it’s actually beneficial for me since I always have my time all for myself.

And time for myself means time to review and be a better version of me. I have to succeed. I can’t fail any of my plans.

“Do you want to come with us?” Sana clung an arm around me, before resting her head on my shoulder.

“I can’t. If you didn’t hear Mr. Park, he asked me to go to the teachers’ office.”

They both pouted, but they also knew they can’t do anything about it.

If it’s about my studies, no one stands a chance against it.

Dismissal means I have to squeeze into the busy crowd along the corridors, students hurrying to get out of the building as fast as they can. Just when I thought that this day couldn’t get any worse, I just had to bump into Brian as I venture my way to the teachers’ office.

Bumping into Brian means: the space around me will get even more crowded as a portion of the school’s population of girls pool around him.

Another hardship I have to overcome, I guess.

After the struggle of coming to the teachers’ office, I knocked on the door and carefully opened it.

“Excuse me—”

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

I stopped halfway, frozen on the spot as I looked at Mr. Park holding his usual rolled paper he uses to hit students with, face screaming nothing but frustration.

Across him was Jae and his annoying blue hair, sitting prettily as a man stood beside him, who I recognized soon after. It was Coach Taecyeon, the coach of the football team.

“Failing exams here and there, are you really exhibiting how dumb you are?” Mr. Park hit his table with his rolled paper, jolting both Jae and Coach Taecyeon.

Even from outside, the crease on Jae’s forehead was visible.

“I’m not dumb! I’m just not into intellectual pursuits!” he responded defensively.

Mr. Park sighed. “And do you think you can get into college with your grades as they are now? It’s only the first month and you’re already failing miserably. If you continue being like this, the school might force you to leave the team.”

“Football can get me into a university!”

Okay, so did I come here only to eavesdrop on them reprimanding Jae for being the dumb jock that he is?

Coach Taecyeon finally decided to step in, and with a heavy sigh, he argued. “Sir, he can’t leave the team. He’s an asset, he’s the top scorer. He’s the ace! Plus, universities are actually eyeing the team right now to scout them, especially Jae.”

Another useless information that I got today: Jae is actually the ace of the football team.

I guess he’s a center forward just like Brian. But unlike Brian, he fails exams. He sleeps in class. He’s always late. That’s how much I know about Jae as of now, and hopefully, nothing else adds to them since I shouldn’t really care, to be honest. It’s just a waste of space in my brain that should be occupied by knowledgeable facts. Not trivial things like this.

“Those things won’t matter if he can’t actually graduate from school with grades looking like that.” Mr. Park turned to Jae and pointed his rolled paper at him, making Jae flinch. “You lazy ass! You’re always a headache to your teachers!”

I guess that’s a cue for me to leave.

But just before I could turn my heel, Mr. Park called my name.

“Please enter, Aeri.” he commanded, to which I followed suit.

I took the other vacant seat across Mr. Park’s table, and in front of the seat Jae was sitting on. He looked extremely aggravated, well, I can’t blame him. After everything that I heard earlier, he must really feel like that.

“For what reason have I been called, sir?” I queried, remembering that I have to go home early so I have to end this conversation early too.

Mr. Park heaved a deep sigh before sitting on his swivel chair.

“You see, this poor ace of the football team needs help,” he began. “As you may or may not know, he’s been failing on his subjects and as early as now, he needs to fix that problem before it spirals into something worse like not graduating or not getting into any university.”

 _Your point?_ I wanted to say so bad, but I held back. That’s literally none of my business. If he fails, it’s his fault for not trying hard enough.

Jae shot Mr. Park a glare, earning him another hit of the rolled paper on his head.

I kept silent as I waited for Mr. Park to continue what he was saying.

“Alright, I won’t beat around the bush anymore. I have a proposal for you,” he flashed me a wide smile, and I almost grimaced.

“I’m assigning you as his study buddy.”

I almost screamed a _What?!_ with my lungs.

“What?” I glanced at Jae and he too, looked surprised. “Why do I have to do that?”

What made him think I’ll agree to this? My time is precious, and it’s dedicated to my studies alone, and of course, my family. Why would I waste my time teaching this dumb jock?

Coach Taecyeon nodded at me. “Aeri, please, he really needs help… well, he’s not really dumb, he’s just too lazy and—”

“Coach, not you too?!”

Jae looked so defeated. He pulled his hair in frustration, and I almost did the same.

I turned to Mr. Park and shook my head. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t have time to teach him as I also have to tend to my studies.”

“Full marks in recitation plus exemption in your final exams in Calculus, in exchange of you being his study buddy,” my ears perked at his words. “Just please, we really can’t afford to let the school remove him from the team because of his low grades. The principal warned me earlier today, so we had to finally take action…”

Interesting, but no thanks.

I can surely get high marks in my recitation and if I just work hard enough, and if no one wastes my precious time allotted for studying, I’m pretty sure I can get a perfect score in my final exams. Also, like I said, it’s not my problem. If he fails, that’s on him. He can always learn to manage his time well to juggle studies and football, if he really can’t let go of football since he’s the ace of the team. I mean, Sungjin could do it, why couldn’t he?

“I’m sorry, but I have to decline.” I politely answered, before standing up.

Just as I was about to step forward, Mr. Park told Jae,

“I guess it can’t be helped, maybe I’ll just assign Brian Kang as your study buddy…”

Brian Kang’s name rang in my head, as well as the incentives Mr. Park mentioned earlier.

If Brian agrees to this, he’ll get full marks for our recitation and he’ll be exempted in our final exam, which, even if I’m confident that I can get a perfect score, there’s still the scary probability of getting even just one mistake and that would lead to him, battling a close fight again against me.

I can’t let that happen.

I turned around and saw Jae with his furrowed brows again. “How can you all be so lenient towards Brian but merciless to me?!”

Mr. Park hit his head again with the rolled paper. “Brian has good grades unlike you, you bastard!”

I swallowed an imaginary lump on my throat before clearing it, making all three of them look at me.

“I’m…” I hesitantly uttered. “I’m accepting your offer. I’ll help him with his studies, but only until midterms. I can’t risk my time for studying for finals.”

And as though I just discovered the cure to cancer, Mr. Park and Coach Taecyeon’s faces lit up as they simultaneously clapped their hands. They thanked me, told me they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and danced their way out of the office, leaving me with my now study buddy.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say as Jae stared at me blankly.

Suddenly, he stood up and nodded at me. “I’m sorry that you had to do this.”

_Well, you should be sorry._

I just nodded back. “It’s fine, it’s not as if I’m doing this for free.”

Jae scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, and it’s only now that I realized, he actually looks cute?

Not that it matters, he’s one of the people who don’t take their studies seriously, people who tick me off just by their presence alone.

“I believe this is the first time we’re talking to each other,” he said, and I nodded because it’s true. “But I assume you know me? I mean, of course, I’m the ace of the football team and the whole school knows me.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

Jae looked like he just heard the most offensive thing in his life. His forehead creased a little, before he sighed. “Well, for starters,” he offered his hand, “Hi, I’m Jae,”

I took his hand for a handshake, hoping it’s not that bad of an idea teaching this jock, until the dumbass opened his mouth again.

“And I’m good at kicking balls.”

And who the fuck asked?!


End file.
